


The Charade

by arrowsshootyouforwards



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 06:19:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13229808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowsshootyouforwards/pseuds/arrowsshootyouforwards
Summary: Fake dating AU combined with We're famous and our fans want us to date





	The Charade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taakoshell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taakoshell/gifts).



> Written for ColdAtom secret santa 2017

If Leonard Snart could pinpoint the moment in his life where he tipped the scales enough to get himself sent to hell, it would have been about 6 months, 1 week and 4 days ago. He’d been mid shoot on his new movie. His agent and the agent of his co-star had called them both to a meeting. In the movie Len played a widowed man. His wealthy wife had died leaving him with their daughter Eliza. His character is from an entirely different world than his wife but as she stated in her will she wanted their daughter brought up around the world she had known. He hires a nanny, a male nanny, who he falls in love with.

He and his co-star were unsure why they had been called into a meeting but they both turned up. It was at the meeting Leonard knew he was going to hell. They wanted the pair to date. Well, at least to pretend.

“Think of the fans, they’re already what’s the term… ‘Shipping’ the two of you. They’re even creating art.” He held up his iPad to show a rather graphic sketch of the two of them.

Both Leonard and Ray looked uncomfortable. Ray’s agent stepped in. “Ray you both need to think about the possibilities here, think of the parts this could get you in the future. You’re still unknown in this world.” Ray really didn’t like where this was going. Their fans knew that both he and Leonard were gay. It’s what was keeping the media from being too interested in the film already. There was nothing ‘exciting’ about two gay actors playing gay roles apparently. But if their fans started posting about their ‘dreams coming true’ then the media would be interested. Ray remained quiet. He had a lot less to lose than Leonard. Leonard was up for a big role after this movie and the director was homophobic. It sounded like he was looking for any reason to drop Leonard from the project.

“Look, we’re not saying that you should just start fucking, no, just be seen together and let things ‘progress’,” Leonard looked about to kill his agent. “Look, why don’t you both think about it, discuss it and meet again next week?” Neither Len or Ray could reply before the man was on the phone and excusing himself, taking his things with him. Ray’s agent shot them both an apologetic look.

“Just think about it. It isn’t an unlikely story, two stars, grow close during a role, start going out. And it couldn’t hurt your careers. Either of them.” Ray’s agent packed his things and left the pair of them. Leonard regarded his co-star beside him. It wasn’t entirely unbelievable that they could go out. They were good at their jobs and had good chemistry on screen.

Ray was deep in thought in the next seat. Leonard had always been one of his favourite actors before he had the courage to try it himself. And he would be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to the other. He knew the main complication in Leonard’s mind. His future. Both of their futures for that matter. Neither wanted to speak first so Leonard took the hit. “We should discuss this,” he said startling Ray.

Ray nodded, “I agree,” he said though he didn’t move.

“Let’s go somewhere more private, my place, tonight? I’m meeting my sister downtown in half an hour. Seven good?”

“Seven’s fine.” Ray agreed as they began preparing to leave. Leonard text Ray his address and left to meet his sister.

Ray couldn’t think straight, so he did what he always did in that situation and headed home then to a gym with a pool. He stared longingly at the boxing ring through the windows but his contract in the film said he couldn’t get mark up through sport. So swimming it was. He swam lengths until the lifeguards told him he had to get out so they could do kids swimming lessons. He went back to his apartment to eat and called his friend to see if she wanted to hang out.

“Hey Anna, did you wanna get lunch? My treat? Great see you there,” he hung up and drove to a small Italian place in the city. Anna arrived shortly after he did, she lived further out than he did. They sat in a more secluded corner of the restaurant so he could talk to her. “So, our agents want us to date, or to at least make it look like we are, to promote the film and I don’t know, it seems wrong.” He told her.

“Ray lots of actors have pretended to date to promote their movies. It’s sometimes part of the job,” Anna told him. “40% of actor-actress relationships end with a carefully planned break-up. What does Leonard think?”

“We didn’t really have much chance to talk about it, he left to meet his sister.”

“Well think about it like this, both of you are out as gay, neither of you is seeing anyone, you don’t have any kids, so no one can get hurt. Plus, it might help you. The only think that might throw you is your active life on social media. You’d need to plan his introduction into that carefully. You can’t just suddenly have pics with a guy saying, ‘love of my life’ or something like that.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the voice of reason in this friendship?” He smirked.

“Ray you know I love you and I think it would be good for you to date someone. Even if it’ not real, for him anyway.” Anna knew he had somewhat of a thing for Leonard and had teased him relentlessly for it when they had been cast together. “Ray just think about it OK?”

“I will. We’re meeting tonight to discuss things,” he told her. “You really think we should do it?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” she smiled reassuringly.

 

Ray arrived at Leonard’s house just after 7 and rang the doorbell. “Hey, come on in,” Leonard said, “we have a lot to talk about.” This was different to the Leonard he had been seeing on set. He was more intense, though Ray put that down to nerves. Leonard showed him to the kitchen where he pulled two beers out of the refrigerator. Sliding one over to Ray he twisted the top off of his own. Ray had been over a few times to run lines in pre-production. Len took a long pull from his drink. “It’s not uncommon,” he paused, “for actors to start going out during a movie. However, those are straight actors and they’re dating their female co-stars. We’re gay and there will be a lot of hate coming at us. Especially you, I know the projects you have lined up. You know how some people get when Disney hires a gay actor. It’s not ideal. But I think we can make this work. What are your thoughts?” Leonard looked at Ray for the first time since he arrived.

“I agree that it’s not the least likely outcome of the two of us working together. I spoke with a friend earlier, a trusted friend,” he added, “and she thinks we should go for it. But she did mention my social media presence. We’d have to think carefully about that. You can’t just show up on there. When we were running lines over the summer I Instagramed pics of me outside, arriving and leaving etc. So people know I’ve been here and it’s a good start. Next, our fans. We have two different fanbases and as much as our agents want us to believe the crossover is ‘huge’ it’s not how he described it. The crossover that is there, however, is _very_ … Interested in us… Joining forces, I think is the best way to put it.”

“I won’t say I haven’t looked into it,” Leonard told him. “And I agree with you about the social media aspect. We’d have to keep an eye on their reactions to that. We should start sooner rather than later. As for public interaction, have you given that much thought?”

“A little” he lied, Ray’d thought about it more than he cared to admit even to himself.

“We should start with small things, casual touches, sitting close together, hand holding and I guess at some point, kissing. We’re good actors, but even pros need practise. So, I think we should meet up a few nights and get used to touching one another. Just so we look comfortable together.” Ray remained silent. A man he had crushed on for years was proposing they meet up to practise touching and kissing each other. He nodded, not trusting his voice. They hadn’t gotten to filming those scene in the movie yet, so he had yet to actually touch or kiss Leonard too much.

Ray and Leonard spent the next two hours working out the kinks in their story, putting their plan into action soon. They started with the social media aspect. Ray took a picture of them running lines and posted it on Instagram with the caption ‘rehearsing something a little more intimate.’ The picture had Leonard with his arm around Ray on the couch, holding a script and winking at the camera. It was mainly to test the waters with the fans and the reaction was almost instant and they monitored it while they ran lines followed by half an hour of leaning against each other, and light touching.

Having the weekend off the pair kept in touch on Sunday discussing the fan’s reactions to their post. They also called their agents, letting them know they would go along with it, on their own terms. Not their agents’.

Come Monday, they were back shooting their movie and they were getting close to the time when their characters would fall in love. Those scenes began on Friday. They decided not to tell anyone else that their relationship wouldn’t be real. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Wednesday evening, they were at Ray’s apartment running lines for Friday with the little girl playing Penny who played Eliza saying her lines over the phone from her dad’s. After her dad made her hang up to get ready for bed the two men discussed the reaction from their social media. Ray had started to include Leonard in more of his posts and it was working a treat at getting their fans excited. They decided to dip their toes in a little deeper and posted a picture of Ray in Leonard’s arms preparing to watch a move together, chuckling at the various reactions as the movie played.

Leonard was amazed at how comfortable he felt having Ray in such constant proximity for long periods of time. Normally it took him longer to become comfortable about co-starts he would eventually be intimate with, even on screen. So much so, he didn’t even flinch when Ray threaded the fingers of their hands together. Merely an hour later, Leonard, feeling brave, took Ray’s phone from the side table. “I have an idea that may speed up our timeline slightly. If you’re up for it.”

“What do I need to do?”

“Just tell me your phone passcode and pretend to be asleep.” Ray did as he was told and Leonard snapped a selfie for Instagram. ‘ _Someone fell asleep with his phone unlocked_ ’ he typed and added snoozing emojis.

“You’re awful,” Ray chuckled as it was posted to his feed and the comments began pouring in.

“I know, but they love it.”

“You could’ve used a filter, that lighting is terrible,” Ray joked as he sat up and stretched.  The movie was long forgotten as they watched the comments and reactions from fans.

Leonard checked his own phone, “it’s getting late, I should go home.”

“Right, um, see you in the morning.” Ray saw him out and watched him to his car.

 

The next morning, he arrived on set to find Leonard waiting with two coffees from CC Jitters. Ray raised an eyebrow and snapped a photo for the fans. ‘ _Thank you for the coffee. FYI: This is how you use a filter ;p_ ’ he typed and then tagged Leonard. Ray wasn’t in many scenes that day though the director did speak to him about the upcoming scenes the next day. The scenes were he and Leonard would share their first kiss.

“Look, Mr. Palmer,” the director, Harry Wells, began, “I’ve seen the little thing the pair of you have on social media, via my daughter. Just understand that when I shoot the first kiss tomorrow, it _better be_ a _first_ kiss. Catch my drift? No rehearsing. I’ve already spoken to Mr Snart.” Ray nodded, he’d almost forgot Harry’s rules about working on this film. He’d kept Leonard and Ray away from each other until their characters had met. Fortunately, they had yet to kiss in their evenings, though he had been sorely tempted to on several occasions. Leonard must have remembered as he always seemed to stop things before they got too much.

“I understand Mr Wells. And I guarantee, we haven’t yet kissed.”

“Good, keep it that way until tomorrow.” Ray nodded.

 

“I was thinking,” Leonard said after filming, “that maybe we should hang out in public this weekend, be seen by others.”

“Sounds good, we could do lunch, or dinner or go for a run or something.”

“Lunch and a run sound good. Maybe not in that order but sounds like a plan. We shouldn’t hang tonight though, not sure I could control myself,” he said, his eyes darting to the side. Ray followed his gaze to see fans getting closer.

“A run then lunch, great idea. Good call about tonight,” he took Leonard’s hand and squeezed it before letting it go again, one of the fans let out a giggle and another a triumphant noise as his phone camera snapped a picture of them holding hands. “See you tomorrow?”

“Until then,” Leonard brought Ray’s hand to his lips and they went their separate ways, texting as soon as they were alone.

_‘Good call with those fans. Hand kiss, nice touch,’_ Ray text him once he was home.

_‘What can I say, I’m a good actor.’_ Leonard replied and set his phone on the counter in his kitchen and sighed. He was exhausted. Not that his scenes required much effort today but he was emotionally drained. It took a lot for him to work with Ray Palmer and not lose face. How could it not? Ray was exceptionally attractive and exactly his type. More so now they had been spending so much time together and learning more about each other. He’d had no idea how to handle their agents suggesting they fake date because he was unsure he’d be able to keep it pretend when in his head he wanted to real thing.

To top it all off tomorrow they had to kiss, on set, for the first time and on camera. Wells had told him they only had one shot to make it work. He wanted the first kiss and he would get it whether Leonard or Ray liked it or not. Leonard had been pushing his restraint as it was. But he never thought Ray would like him back. Tomorrow would be the true test. He didn’t have much time to think about it as his sister turned up with her daughter Sofia for a visit.

 

The next day Leonard arrived on set where Ray immediately found him. Ray snapped a selfie for Instagram captioned ‘big day’ with lip emojis. “Tease,” Leonard accused, wishing he could just kiss Ray there and then, but he caught sight of Harry and thought better of it.

“They love it, hair and make-up need you soon by the way.”

“Heading there now,” Leonard replied putting his hands up in surrender.

_“I haven’t felt this way in a long time, I’m afraid I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” Leonard said as the pair moved closer. “I just feel lost, I’ve lost so much, my life hasn’t made sense in a long time. And yet when you’re around everything just seems so clear. The expectations of this life say I should ask you to leave, I should walk away.”_

_“Then why don’t you?” Ray asked softly, his hands resting on Leonards biceps._

_“Because to hell with expectations,” Leonard pressed his lips forward against Ray’s. Their eyes slid shut as Ray relaxed into the kiss, allowing Leonard to deepen it._

“And cut!” Harry yelled from beside the camera, “gentlemen, excellent job. Gentlemen!” He called and Leonard and Ray separated, “good take, get out of my sight, see you both Monday. Ray went over to Anna, his guest onset, who had his phone. “How’d it look?”

“Good and the fans over there saw everything.”

“Perfect.” He said as Leonard joined them.

“We should talk tonight, my place, I’ll cook.” He said and left. Anna shot Ray a look.

“He’ll cook, sounds serious,” she teased.

“What, no, he’s just being nice. He is nice.”

“Mmhmm.”

 

Ray arrived at Leonard’s house that night, aware that he was being followed. When Leonard opened the door, Ray kissed his cheek and hurried them inside. “Sorry, I was followed, I think some fans are reaching the level of crossing the line.”

“Don’t worry about it, I won’t complain.”

“So what did you want to talk about?” Ray asked setting a bottle of wine on the counter.

“I think the time has come for us to practice more intimate activities. Kissing and such, for the reveal, you know, so we look comfortable.”

“Right, that, uh, good call. So, Anna said the fans that were watching were going crazy after we left.”

“And that was a scripted kiss for the movie. Wonder how they’ll take to us kissing when it’s not for the movie.”

“Guess we’ll find out, smile,” Ray turned and took a selfie of Len stirring dinner.

“What’re you gonna caption it?”

“#BestCastMateEver” he smirked.

“They’ll _love_ that,” Leonard rolled his eyes.

“I know,” Ray raised his eyebrows and Leonard had to look away. His restraint was being tested again. He finished cooking and they poured some wine. The food was good, Ray had heard rumours that Leonard could cook and damn straight he could.

After dinner, they put on a movie and sat a little too close to be considered platonic on the couch. It was Ray who made the first move, using the wine he’d brought for courage he turned to face Leonard and pressed their lips together. Leonard relaxed against his lips, gently returning the kiss.

“I’ve been thinking,” Ray began a while later, “what’s our timeline, like when are we putting ‘us’” he said using air quotes, “out there?” Leonard considered. It wasn’t something that had come up, though he was surprised he missed it.

“Well I guess there’s no time like the present, you got your phone?”

“Always,” Ray grinned already switching to the front camera. Leonard kissed his cheek and Ray snapped the picture, sending it caption-less to his Instagram.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, whenever they weren’t filming Leonard and Ray spent time together in public, convincing the world that they were dating. Leonard’s agent, Eobard, was loving it. Ray’s agent Nate, however, was more cautious. He continued to remind Ray to think about his future and how he didn’t really trust Eobard. He wasn’t even sure why Leonard was working with him considering the continually stereotyped roles he’d played over the last few years.

Ray and Leonard had everything in their ‘relationship’ worked out and so were not overly worried. They would spend time together, had been on dates to places and even had nicknames for each other. Ray called Leonard Len and Leonard insisted on calling him Raymond, no matter how much he protested.

After the movie came the promotional tour, full of meet and greets and talk shows where every host wanted to know how they had gotten together. This came with the territory of the pair of them sharing hotel rooms. And more closely, sharing a bed. They had decided from the beginning that they could be adults about sharing a bed. Though it was not without unfamiliar territory. Numerous occasions they had woken up spooning. Sometimes whoever woke first, which both of them were guilty of, would lay there, enjoying the moment. According to their fans they had been together for almost 4 months at this point.

 

About a week towards the end of the tour they were in Hartford, Connecticut, when the panels they were attending were cancelled due to heavy snow. They were in Hartford for 4 days, with all of their events cancelled. Harry left his cast to their own devices, still salty that they could not have a panel. Leonard and Ray spent the first day looking around the city and meeting their fans with Penny and her dad.

Overnight the snow fell heavier, most of the things they had been planning to do were closed due to the snow. They spent the morning at the hotel. Ray worked off some steam swimming while Leonard read in their room. Ray returned to their room, his hair still damp from the shower he took at the pool. Leonard didn’t look up from his page as he wordlessly waved to Ray.

Ray had become to suspect that Leonard, much like himself, felt more for his castmate than friendship and fake romance. He was just waiting for the time to ask him and now seemed as good a time as ever. “I was wondering, if we could maybe talk?” He asked, catching Leonard’s attention. Leonard finished his paragraph and marked his page.

“Sure, what’s up?” He asked setting his book aside.

“I was just wondering, that maybe, um, I mean- Sorry, I was wondering that, um, before all this, before our agents even suggested the idea to us, I just, I was really into you- I mean not in a weird way, but, attracted, I guess would be the best way to describe it, I mean… I’m messing this up, aren’t I? OK, I guess what I’m saying is that before we started to fake date, I would have thought about asking you out, for real and I just wondered if maybe you ever felt the same way about me?” Ray stopped talking, amazed he’d managed to express himself somewhat coherently.

Leonard sat in silence for a short while, processing what Ray had said. “Honestly? I won’t say the thought never crossed my mind. I mean look at you, you’re amazing, as an actor and a person. I won’t say I never thought about asking you out. It’s just everything in my career is complicated. My next movie is hanging by a thread right now because of us pretending to date. But if I’m keeping being honest, I’d rather be happy and date you for real than do that movie. Which I guess is my terrible way of asking you if you wanna have a date, for real.”

“Wait, seriously? I mean you’re into me-” In the time it had taken Ray to finish his sentence, Leonard had crossed the lounge area of their room to kiss him harder than they had kissed at any point in their relationship so far. Ray responded to the kiss, pulling Leonard beside him on the couch, deepening their kiss. Leonard nipped at his lip as they pulled apart.

“I am very, into you Raymond,” Leonard whispered. “And I’d like to be more,” he murmured and Ray’s breath hitched as he cottoned onto Leonard’s meaning as he felt a hand trail up his thigh. “How about you?”

“Oh God yes,” Ray mumbled pulling Leonard back to his lips. His hands pushed under Leonard’s shirt, desperate to feel more of him. They shed their shirts and Leonard pulled Ray by the hand over to their bed and kissed him once more, allowing his hands to roam over the other’s body. Ray placed his hands on the small of Leonard’s back, his hands roamed lower, over Leonard’s ass, squeezing and pulling him closer. Leonard smiled into the kiss. Leonard backed Ray until he hit the bed, Ray wrapped his arms around Leonard and pulled him down onto the bed. Ray could feel Leonard’s hard length inside his jeans, fighting to be free against his own hard on. Leonard rolled his hips into Ray’s, both of them moaning at the friction created. “Leonard,” Ray breathed as his partner kissed his neck and lower. “Can- Are we-”

Leonard paused, “if you want to.”

“I so want to,” Ray replied. They stood and shed the remainder of their clothes, Leonard checked the door was locked and Ray dug around in his bag for the lube and condoms he had stashed there, mainly for show in case someone came snooping but it never hurt to be prepared. Leonard accepted the items when Ray handed them over and encouraged Ray to lay on his front.

Leonard crawled over the bed behind Ray, nudging his legs apart as he warmed the lube between his fingers. Tentatively he pressed a finger inside of Ray, who swore under his breath and moaned. When Leonard began feeling Ray push back against his finger he added a second and then a third until he felt Ray was ready. Ignoring his pleas for more. Leonard pulled his fingers out of Ray and rolled a condom over his hard cock, spreading lube over it he nudged Ray. Telling him to get into a more comfortable position.

Ray rolled onto his back and spread his legs apart. Leonard took Ray’s cock in his hand and stroked it as he lined himself up with Ray’s entrance. Pressing forward he entered Ray, both men moaning in unison. For Ray, it had been a while since he had had another man inside him but damn did it feel good. Good however was putting it lightly to say how Leonard felt in that moment. Ray pulled Leonard down to his lips as his partner stroked his cock in time with his thrusts which became short and fast. Not wanting to push Ray too far he had yet to fully enter the other man. Ray, sensing he was missing out somehow began meeting Leonard’s thrusts in an attempt to take him deeper. Leonard pulled most of the way out of Ray and slowly sank back in, deeper than he previously had. The deeper he went the more Ray moaned beneath him. His thrusts, combined with his hand on Ray’s cock was becoming too much. Ray moaned as he came over Leonard’s hand and his own stomach. Pulling Leonard down to kiss him he rolled his hips, encouraging his partner to finish. Leonard’s thrusts became quicker and shallower, hips stuttering to a stop as he came into the condom.

He slipped out of Ray, disposed of the condom and kissed the other man, running his fingers through his sweat-damp hair. Ray lay there catching his breath. He kissed Leonard back, smiling into their kisses.

Ray and Leonard lay together for a while, got up, showered and prepared to take a nap before Ray asked: “So do we count us ‘getting together’ as now, or when we started the whole charade?”

“Well, answer me this, was it ever really a charade?”

“I guess not,” Ray smiled, “for me at least.”

“Me either,” Leonard assured him, curling behind his boyfriend. Boyfriend, it felt good to think that. “You should rest.” He said.

“So long as you’re here when I wake up.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Leonard whispered as Ray drifted off in his arms.


End file.
